- Campus
- 02/07/2025
A major cleanup effort took place on Monday and Tuesday to dry out the flooded basement. Among those helping were four PhD candidates from the Power & Flow research group, who assisted the professional cleaning crews. “We spent all of Monday vacuuming up water with wet vacs and squeegees,” says PhD candidate Ralph Maas, showing videos of the effort on his phone. “We must have emptied hundreds of full wet vacs. It was actually great for team building,” he jokes.
But he knows the situation is serious. The building is brand-new, having only been delivered a few months ago. The team suspects a fire hose on the first floor burst. As an example of the potential damage, the mechanical engineers—who were able to resume their research on Tuesday—point to the cabling installed in floor ducts. “We don’t know yet whether drying them out will be enough, or whether they’ll need to be replaced.”
Damage
Just last Friday, Mechanical Engineering staff member Martin Huijzer had opened the new laser lab for use. One of his responsibilities is getting the renovated Gemini-Noord ready for research. “I’m afraid there’s damage to the doors, the flooring, and the power outlets,” he says. Still, he sees a silver lining: not all equipment had been moved in yet. “Much of it is still on carts, which kept it dry.”
Huijzer refers to the carts and other pallets that the cleanup team, led by Reda Karouan, is now moving one by one to mop underneath. Karouan, from emergency response company Alarmcentrale 247, was called in on Sunday night for the flooding. Along with partner company Polygon, his team is working to dry the space completely. “After pumping out the water, we’re also wiping down every surface by hand with mops and cloths,” he explains. “The power outlets are in the floor, so we’re using blowers to dry those as well—otherwise we can’t safely plug anything in.”
According to Karouan, who started working with colleagues from The Hague-based Alarmcentrale 247 at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, TU/e discovered the leak relatively late. “There was about five centimeters of water across the entire floor. As large as the building appears above ground, that’s how large the basement is. It’s a huge amount of water.”
Statement
On Tuesday, Campus & Facilities communications officer Annelien Besijn issued the following statement: “The water leak in the basement of the Gemini-Noord building has our full attention. The issue was discovered over the weekend, after which immediate action was taken to pump out the water. The electrical systems have now been thoroughly checked and declared safe for use. Part of the building is once again accessible to users.”
Campus & Facilities has not commented on the cause of the leak. The extent of the disruption and damage is also still unclear. “We are currently still assessing the damage and its impact, so we cannot comment on it yet. We expect to provide an update sometime next week.”
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